Located in the castle of Melfi, the museum is home to archaeological findings from the Vulture area concerning the indigenous peoples of prehistoric times, the Daunian, Samnite, Roman, Byzantine and Norman periods. Inaugurated in 1976, it is arranged in three rooms on the ground floor of the Castle.
In the first room one can see prehistoric artefacts such as daggers, processed stones, decorated ceramics and a variety of Bronze Age materials. In the second one there are two grave dowries from princely tombs, bronze and iron weapons, and clay and bronze vessels. The third and last room contains artefacts from the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, found in the Basilicata municipalities of Lavello and Banzi.
The most important artefact in the museum is the Sarcophagus of Rapolla (better known in archaeological studies as the Sarcophagus of Melfi), a monument from Asia Minor, dating back to the 2nd century AD and discovered in the mid-19th century. It is characterised by figures embedded in an architectural structure on the long sides, and with the portrait of the deceased on the cover. Until the end of the 1970s, the sarcophagus was housed in the Bishop's Palace.
Also worth mentioning are some paintings that belonged to the Doria family, appointed princes of Melfi in 1531 by the King of Spain and Emperor Charles V of Habsburg. The paintings currently on display in the museum in Melfi include a series of hunting scenes that some experts consider to be 17th-century Flemish works, others Italian and 18th-century, a large canvas depicting the area around Melfi and, in the castle chapel, a late 16th-century crucifixion of the Flemish school.
Dal dicembre 2014 il museo è in gestione al Since December 2014, the museum has been managed by the Polo Museale della Basilicata..